2018 new car thread

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It seems like lots of forums have this thread, so let's start one! We are looking to buy a new car for my wife this calendar year. We currently have a 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe and a 2016 Chevy Silverado. I plan to keep both vehicles myself, and she'll drive the new car. I'll pile the miles onto the Santa Fe as a daily driver until it dies or I just don't want to repair it. And the Silverado is our ski vehicle.

Requirements:

AWD or 4x4

average or better reliability -- or far enough below budget to factor in a lifetime bumper-to-bumper warranty

capable of carrying skis in the back in a pinch without the use of a roof rack, though it won't be it's regular duty

since the average vehicle is $35,000... let's set a budget of $40,000. I could be convinced to go a bit over, but it would have to be compelling.

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Another vote for the Highlander. We have a 2016. It's not the biggest 3 row SUV, nor the most tech savy, but its no slouch in those areas either. It is such a great vehicle in most areas that count and it looks good too.

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Another vote for the Highlander. We have a 2016. It's not the biggest 3 row SUV, nor the most tech savy, but its no slouch in those areas either. It is such a great vehicle in most areas that count and it looks good too.

Less tech the better. Tech = more things to go wrong.

The truck I have now is the first vehicle I have had without roll up windows and guess what? I have had to replace 3 of the 4 buttons. Wife's vehicle i had to replace all 4 and need to replace 1 again when driving I have to put up the back window when one of my kids puts it done because the back switch only puts the window down not up. PIA. Never had to replace the mechanical devices on any of my old ones.

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As the saying does, the most expensive car you can buy is a used German car. I think the same is true for British cars.

Yup, had BMW's for years. The X5 was all four corners pads and rotors every 25K miles. The rear tires were $350 each on the sport package. The Toyota's are way different in maintenance. 95K out of the pads and I am doing the same commute and skiing.

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Never buy the first year of a remodel or new model. Let them work the bugs out

My Wrangler Unlimited is 7 years old and 130K+ miles and I'm starting to get the itch to replace it. I'm considering the new Wrangler, but it's a total redesign with a new engine, changes to the body style, etc, so I'm a little leery of jumping into that right now. Unfortunately, if you want an off-road capable SUV these days and not a glorified station wagon, there's two options if you want new - the Wrangler and the 4Runner. The 4Runner is essentially unchanged for the last number of years and I've had a good experience with Toyota's in the past (1999 Tundra). That's not to say I've had any significant issues with my Jeep. This is the second Wrangler I've owned and both were pretty much bomb-proof. The only issues my current one has had are the throttle chip (it has an electronic throttle) failed shortly after I bought it and now the power steering is starting to act up. The chip was covered under warranty. And yes, I do take it off road. Anyone have experience with the 4Runner?

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The truck I have now is the first vehicle I have had without roll up windows and guess what? I have had to replace 3 of the 4 buttons. Wife's vehicle i had to replace all 4 and need to replace 1 again when driving I have to put up the back window when one of my kids puts it done because the back switch only puts the window down not up. PIA. Never had to replace the mechanical devices on any of my old ones.

I had the teeth on a window crank strip. The thing was made of plastic!

All cars have so much tech these days, I think all Toyota come with collision avoidance features now involving radar and cameras... But the good thing with Toyota is the reason they are slow bringing new tech to market is because they're testing the crap out of it.

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The truck I have now is the first vehicle I have had without roll up windows and guess what? I have had to replace 3 of the 4 buttons. Wife's vehicle i had to replace all 4 and need to replace 1 again when driving I have to put up the back window when one of my kids puts it done because the back switch only puts the window down not up. PIA. Never had to replace the mechanical devices on any of my old ones.

I think you bought a piece of shit. I have never had such tech issues. My 2011 Impreza could not connect to devices without multiple tries, but that's been it for me until my sister totaled it, meanwhile, I was in Europe. You also could only save 1 Bluetooth device on the car. This car was still using an old-fashioned radio/cd player, except with Bluetooth and a microphone.

As for more tech, I find apple car play to work great. 1. its a wired connection, not Bluetooth, so its plug an go, no pairing and other nonsense, though sometimes it does not connect on my 2018 Crosstrek. 2. The voice controls and interface are the same as the Iphone, much sleeker and simpler than the iPhone. I can activate Siri from the steering wheel. Only thing is you need the latest OS to use google maps threw Carplay, though you could still listen to google maps on your phone and Carplay, also reflects, my phones sluggishness, and different clock settings as my car which could drive someone nuts since you can see both at the same time.

I find the Crosstrek comfortable and easy to drive. No issues so far, except no internal navigation forced me to drive halfway to Belleayre from Plattekill, before getting enough cell phone service to find a new route back. I find the advanced cruise control works great, you can leave it on whenever there is a car slowing you down, which I find helpful on windy roads. As long as the car in front of you does not stop for 2 seconds or go faster than you want to around a curve or you need to make a turn off the road, you can leave it on. The cars handle very well in the snow despite not having snow tires. It was able to make it a mountain next to Plattekill Saturday.

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2017 Honda Ridgeline has been treating me well for a little over a year now. Compared to ~10 different trucks and a handful of Subarus that I've owned the Ridgeline is probably the best in terms of ski vehicle. Active AWD, otherwise in FWD, which is a big improvement over all of the pickups I've had. Reliability = Honda. Extremely comfortable for long trips. Decent MPG @ ~23. Comfortably seats 2 adults and a dog. Uncomfortably can seat 4-5 adults. I have a bed cover which keeps everything dry. On our last day at the mountain it held 4 full-size people, 4 snowboards, a grill, a propane heater, 2 med coolers, couple bags of groceries, and some other random stuff. Interior has all of the bells and whistles: large navigation screen, 3-zone climate, heated seats, etc. Minor caveat is that the bed is 162cm. So all my snowboards go straight in but skis need to be at an angle which can cut into storage space. (yet another reason to snowboard!)

In the past I needed more 'truck' for work. Now I'd say the Ridgeline is the perfect cross between light-duty everyday pickup and comfortable long-road-trip AWD ski vehicle. I expect to stick with this for a long time.

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My Wrangler Unlimited is 7 years old and 130K+ miles and I'm starting to get the itch to replace it. I'm considering the new Wrangler, but it's a total redesign with a new engine, changes to the body style, etc, so I'm a little leery of jumping into that right now. Unfortunately, if you want an off-road capable SUV these days and not a glorified station wagon, there's two options if you want new - the Wrangler and the 4Runner. The 4Runner is essentially unchanged for the last number of years and I've had a good experience with Toyota's in the past (1999 Tundra). That's not to say I've had any significant issues with my Jeep. This is the second Wrangler I've owned and both were pretty much bomb-proof. The only issues my current one has had are the throttle chip (it has an electronic throttle) failed shortly after I bought it and now the power steering is starting to act up. The chip was covered under warranty. And yes, I do take it off road. Anyone have experience with the 4Runner?

What pissed me off about the 4Runner is you have to get the top model just to get heated seats... and the Premium model has a bunch of non-offroad stuff I have no interest in.

Being in a similar boat recently (we wound up swapping out my wife's car for a Subaru Crosstrek instead of swapping mine and going larger SUV for now), I think the Highlander would be my choice. Or, if you're trying to save money, get better gas mileage and don't need as much space, my choice would probably be the Outback.

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Another vote for the Highlander. We have a 2016. It's not the biggest 3 row SUV, nor the most tech savy, but its no slouch in those areas either. It is such a great vehicle in most areas that count and it looks good too.

Another Highlander Vote. Easily carries skis with one of the back seats folded down or you could go right down the middle if you have captains chairs. Adequate cargo space. Surprisingly smooth ride. Definitely worth consideration. It's right in your price ballpark too.

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Another Highlander Vote. Easily carries skis with one of the back seats folded down or you could go right down the middle if you have captains chairs. Adequate cargo space. Surprisingly smooth ride. Definitely worth consideration. It's right in your price ballpark too.

Ugh. It doesn't offer Android Auto or Apple CarPlay? WTF? That's actually a big deal to me. Having Waze on the full infotainment screen and the quality of pandora is nice.

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Ugh. It doesn't offer Android Auto or Apple CarPlay? WTF? That's actually a big deal to me. Having Waze on the full infotainment screen and the quality of pandora is nice.

I have Android Auto & Apple Car Play on my Ridgeline and on my wife's Audi. It is such garbage software that I actually went to great lengths to get it to stop connecting. For both of our cars it is so much worse than the nav, audio, and phone controls that are native to the vehicles. I can still access anything I need from my phone (pandora etc) but without the extremely limited controls offered by AA and ACP. So it might be less about finding a car that has AA/ACP, and more about a car that has good native systems.